ATHENS — Greek prime minister Lucas Papademos will follow in the path of President Carolos Papoulias by giving up his salary to help ease Greece’s debt burden, a government source said Thursday.

“It was a personal decision, the Prime Minister did not feel that it had to be announced,” the official, who declined to be identified, told AFP.

Greek daily Ta Nea said Papademos, a former vice-president of the European Central Bank (ECB), made the revelation Wednesday during a visit to Brussels where finance ministers are discussing a new bailout for Athens worth €130 billion ($173 billion).

“Not even his associates knew this,” the daily said.

Papademos’ office was unable to give details on the level of his salary.

On Wednesday, the finance ministry released a list of its best-paid public servants, including the prime minister, which it said are entitled to salaries of more than €5,000 a month.

Deputy finance minister Filippos Sachinidis released the information in response to a parliamentary question, the semi-state run Athens News Agency said.

The list of pre-tax monthly salaries over €5,000 include President Papoulias, Papademos, cabinet ministers, junior ministers and parliament lawmakers.

Papoulias recently announced he was giving up an annual salary of over €280,000 and civil servants have already sustained pay cuts in the last two years under Greece’s unprecedented fiscal overhaul, enacted under EU-IMF supervision to address the country’s worst debt crisis in decades.